Coronary artery calcification detected by CT: clinical significance and angiographic correlates.
Cardiac computed tomography (CT) to detect coronary calcification was performed on 161 patients undergoing coronary angiography for proven or suspected coronary artery disease. Among 108 patients in whom coronary calcifications was identified, 90% had significant coronary stenosis angiographically (greater than 75% stenosis), and 80% of 121 patients with significant coronary stenosis showed calcification by CT. The relationship between the calcification site and the significance in stenosis of each vessel was determined. Calcification was present in 133 arteries among 205 stenotic coronary arteries (sensitivity = 65%) as compared with 59 of 439 entire arteries with normal coronary angiograms (specificity = 87%). In the younger age group the sensitivity of calcification for stenosis of each coronary artery was lower and the specificity and predictive value were generally higher than those in the elderly group. These results demonstrate that CT is a valuable procedure for detecting coronary arterial disease, since this examination is easy to conduct, noninvasive, and widely applicable for screening a large population.
Masuda
Y
Y
Third Department of Internal Medicine, Chiba University School of Medicine, Japan.
Naito
S
S
Aoyagi
Y
Y
Yamada
Z
Z
Uda
T
T
Morooka
N
N
Watanabe
S
S
Inagaki
Y
Y
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D002114:Calcinosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed